How To Play Your Own Fast Lead Guitar Riffs & Impress Anyone That Hears You
Want to create your fast lead guitar riffs?
Nothing feels better than playing amazing riffs you made on your own that get people to turn and pay attention to every note you play when
they hear you.
There are many ways to play cool guitar riffs – and they’re all pretty fun to practice too!
Every approach can easily be used for just 15-20 minutes per day to give you a massive creative boost and make creating killer lead guitar
riffs feel like second nature.
So, let’s get started:
Start Your Riff With Just A Few Notes
A common mistake is to attempt playing your own guitar riffs by playing a ton of notes using the scale patterns or arpeggio patterns you are familiar with.
This often creates a sense of feeling overwhelmed. It’s like trying to plan out a month’s worth of guitar practice that you cram into one day… it just feels like too much.
Fortunately, you don’t have to use this approach.
Composers often create great ideas by beginning with what is called a “motif” or very short musical idea.
This means: Begin your guitar riff with just a handful of notes.
After you can create a cool idea using just a few notes, you can then expand to make it better.
Here is an easy exercise to help you do it:
Create a motif using just 3-4 notes from any guitar scale, arpeggio or pattern. Do this by improvising for a few minutes, like so:
-Choose the notes.
2. -Create as many variations of the notes as you
can think of using legato, tremolo picking, bending or vibrato.
3. -Once you’ve arrived at something that you like,
choose another 3-4 notes and repeat this process.
Focus On Using Speed As An Expressive Tool To Create And Release Musical Tension
Remember: playing guitar fast isn’t just about showing
off or showcasing your skills – it’s about creating expressive music.
The better you are at using speed in a musically expressive manner, the more engaging your riffs become.
For example: A common mistake fast guitarists make is to never learn how to play with good guitar phrasing. They only practice scales or arpeggios in total isolation and by trying to play them as fast as possible. Then, when the time comes to use their skills in a solo or other creative manner – they struggle because they never worked on this.
Start using your guitar speed more expressively by:
*Practice improvising with the scales, arpeggios or other patterns you learn. Begin with just a few notes and try to make them sound as expressive as possible using legato, vibrato, bends, tremolo picking or any other technique you know.
*Focus on learning how the notes of a given scale or arpeggio feel over certain chords. For example: How does the first note in a minor scale feel over the first chord of the scale? Or the second note? Or third? Etc. This helps you feel when notes are tense so you learn how and when to resolve the tension to a less tense note.
Use Your Favorite Musician’s Songs For Inspiration
When in doubt, listen to your favorite musicians.
There is a ton of great musical information for you to soak up and it’s right in front of your face.
This doesn’t mean to directly copy what other musicians do.
It means to observe how they structured their ideas and then use that knowledge to create your own spin on them.
Combine A Power Chord With A Scale From The Same Fretboard Position
Many fast lead guitar licks also contain power chords in some form.
A cool way to start your riffs is to combine a simple power chord together with a scale that begins in the same position as that chord.
For example:
See how the power chord on the left is in the same fretboard position as the minor scale on the right (they both start on fret 7).
Try this:
Make a short guitar phrase by first playing the power chord, then using a few notes from the scale.
Simply play the power chord, play a short phrase, then repeat.
Each time, challenge yourself to make a variation of the phrase by using legato, vibrato or bends. Use the notes of the power chord as stopping points by holding them longer.
Combine Scales And Arpeggios Together
The more you combine your different skills together, the more fluid your playing sounds. In other words: make it a point to practice integrating different guitar techniques and patterns together.
Note: This same idea is easy to apply in rhythm guitar scenarios too, you just (generally) play on lower fretboard positions.
Want to learn more ways to play incredibly expressive guitar licks?